One of my buds just returned from a two-week run to Mexico and said I ought to consider having a skid plate made for the Ninja due to the speed bumps they have. Here's a couple of pics that show the ground clearance so maybe you guys could comment on it.

Jeff, a.k.a. z_clark, from Texas, rode a similar bike and talked about it in his ride report HERE. His bike was a Ninja 250 and not a 650, but they're not too unlike, and he talks about riding over topes on it in post #5.

Treat yourself to a nice camera instead of a skid plate, because we want to see your pics

A local guy here runs a Ninja 250cc and just slows right down for the topes and you can always look for a route to the side of them if you have to. You'll be fine.

Drop me a line if you are coming down through Veracruz.

By the way, Monday is a national holiday for Benito Juarez day (his birthday is actually March 21st but they move the holidays to the closest Monday or Friday to make a long weekend), the Oaxacan indigenous Zapotec fellow who became a lawyer, then a president, and was the father of the Mexican constitution and a French Mason. That makes him easy to blame for everything. LOL! I think it is also the first day of Spring. Actually, he wasn't a bad guy, he cleaned things up after Santa Anna who was only slightly crazier than Mel Gibson.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll check out the report on the Ninja 250. I road tested the 650's suspension pretty good on a trip to Alaska in 2006, They have the dead opposite deal of topes, huge open gaps in the hard road surface suddenly appear, vertical drop of 3-4" into gravel for 4-6', then back to paved or hard surface. Call it a divit but when hit at 60mph fully loaded it gets you airborn easily. Like the topes, they're best snuck up on but since they weren't often marked it's easy to get caught out. We have occasional topes around here but not monster ones like Mexico.

Topes are a hazard even on a fully loaded GS. Went over one somewhere between Madera and Creel and immediately heard this grrrrak grinding sound and the ABS failure light came on. Stopped to check things out and found nothing. ABS did not reset. When I got to Creel we had a closer look at the rear wheel. One of the star bolts that secures the toothed ABS ring to the hub had worked loose and destroyed the ABS sensor. Oh well says I, don't need ABS to descend into Copper Canyon, true enough. Never had a bike with ABS anyway. Got it fixed when I got back to BMW (Bring More Wampum) $anta Fe. It is always finicky and has to be reset all of the time. I did discover how useful a working ABS system can be when I was riding home from getting some new Heidenau K60's put on the bike. My mechanic urged caution in the wet so I was proceeding cautiously at around 70... came out of a turn to find that several deer had decided at the same time to occupy the width of the road... damn that ABS works... didn't fall, didn't hit them, got eyeball close with one of them... said hi and went on my way. Lucky day for me and the dear... further up the road a guy in a Suburban had not been so lucky... grille, hood, both headlights, steam coming out of the radiator. Topes are easy!

Also, if anyone knows of any fun day-rides based out of Vaille de Bravo, we are thinking about taking a day to explore and are looking for advice.

There are nice day rides from Valle de Bravo, you can try Valle-Villa Donato Guerra-Ixtapan del Oro-Santo Tomas de los Platanos-Otzoloapan-Zacazonapan-Temascaltepec-Valle. Its a one lane mountain road quite nice, no problem during daylight hours.

There's another one from Valle to Presa Vicente Guerrero, near the border of Estado de México and Guerrero, its a little more complicated to get there but you surely can figure it out.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll check out the report on the Ninja 250. I road tested the 650's suspension pretty good on a trip to Alaska in 2006, They have the dead opposite deal of topes, huge open gaps in the hard road surface suddenly appear, vertical drop of 3-4" into gravel for 4-6', then back to paved or hard surface. Call it a divit but when hit at 60mph fully loaded it gets you airborn easily. Like the topes, they're best snuck up on but since they weren't often marked it's easy to get caught out. We have occasional topes around here but not monster ones like Mexico.

LL75

Mike: I'm expecting to get to Veracruz so I'll stay in touch. Thanks!

Great thing about Mexico is they not only have topes, but they also have divots, whicj rang from fist deep to something resembling Copper Canyon and you can find them all in the same block. Just keep your eyes open, watch your speed and enjoy.

Those maps have the same errors as 10 years ago. They work, but don't count on them for anything other than the more traveled roads.
For example, take a look at the Puebla map and find Los Humeros. See that nice red line that designates a road to Chignautla? That is the dream of some bureaucrat and has never existed. Nada. Likely will never exist, either.
The aviation maps are pretty good, but man oh man, those Russian maps! Now those were some damn good maps!
If you can ever get ahold of PDF files of the Russian maps of Mexico, don't hesitate to download them or better yet, share them with us. I had them as an app on my phone, very good, but took up too much space and I was too cheap to buy a bigger micro SD card.